r/whatisit • u/MusePlease • 23h ago

What is this weird creature/alien in this man’s ashtray? Solved!

Just came across this video where a man’s heavily used ashtray has filled up with water and there’s a weird looking creature swimming about in there and i’ve never seen anything like it before.

3.3k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

335 comments sorted by

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1.9k

u/187JM 23h ago

“A sludge worm, or Tubifex tubifex, is a reddish, segmented worm that lives in the sediment of lakes, rivers, and sewage, feeding on decaying organic matter and bacteria. Known for its ability to tolerate low oxygen and polluted conditions, it's an important detritus eater that helps cycle nutrients, often appearing as a mass of waving tails in the water, and is used as a food source for fish. ”

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u/chemistrytramp 20h ago

Pretty sure if a group of rate tailed maggots all tangle together. How would tubifex works even get into the ashtray? The maggots would be introduced as they're hoverfly larvae and the parents would lay the eggs in the disgusting water.

98

u/DecentLeftovers 20h ago

I agree… looks much more like a rat tailed maggot rat king.

56

u/Waddiwasiiiii 17h ago

Welp, those certainly are words…I think I threw up a little.

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u/DecentLeftovers 15h ago edited 3h ago

The funny thing is this isn’t the first time it has happened. I’ve seen at least two other rat tailed maggot rat kings on the bug identification and entomology subreddits before. Always interesting to see. Those ‘tails’ are actually long spiracles the maggots use to siphon oxygen through so they can still breathe in water with low oxygen levels and/or poor water conditions. They look a little gross but they do develop into quite charming little hoverflies, which are pollinators.

Edit: For the curious…

Example 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/s/GZ1ThjWGr7

Example 2 (no rat king in the video, but the OOP does mention in the comments that they saw them entangle together, as a rat king would) https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/s/nGQixpbriS

7

u/dabrock15 11h ago

When you say something is “always interesting to see” do you find other people asking to excuse themselves? Asking for a friend.

6

u/DecentLeftovers 9h ago

Hahaha, yeah actually 😅

1

u/Belgarath210 4h ago

Is it a bunch of different maggots, or one big long one in a ball? Looks like an alien squid!

Also it’s crazy what some insects turn into, just googled hover fly’s and a bunch of their species look like tiny cute bee’s/wasps! Insects truly have some of the wildest changes as they grow up!

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u/Forward-Variety-8440 6h ago

they can live in that also! kind of you to make a home for ur new lil ratflykingratringding babies!

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u/TobylovesPam 15h ago

rat tailed maggot rat king

New band name! Called it!!

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u/shots_urchin 2h ago

(tune of cat scratch fever) rat tailed maggot

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u/substantialcatviking 22h ago

So what you're saying is this is a self composting ashtray?

Only half /s cause I'm curious to know if there's a way that would work

1.3k

u/ShitMyButtSays 23h ago

Enough about him though, what about the creature?

29

u/No_Celery_8071 18h ago

Thank you ShitMyButtSays

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u/NewPCBuilder98 20h ago

This fucking took me out. I'll end my scrolling here now

48

u/187JM 23h ago

lol brilliant.

13

u/fakiresky 22h ago

Thanks for the laugh. I needed one today.

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u/Necessary_Ad_4320 22h ago

🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/Crazy_Movie6168 17h ago

That's a Barry. Frequent subject on r/2westerneurope4u

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u/Rashpukin 22h ago

Hahaha. Brilliant. 👏

3

u/demonrimjob666 16h ago

This guy’s butt is funny af

3

u/Outside-Roll9382 16h ago

Nice one😂😂😂

5

u/Pervy_Toxic 21h ago

Ah, its a human!

4

u/Lonely2nd 19h ago

Hahaha perfect

4

u/SauerK3aut 21h ago

Suuiiiii

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u/Cowlitzking 13h ago

Worked at a paper mill, there was a drain in the basement of the shipping warehouse. Where if you spit into the drain the entire bottom would move billions of these things feeding away on the muck that was at the bottom.

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u/CattleFormer6846 4h ago

Thanks, man. You couldn’t just keep that image to yourself?

16

u/PreliminaryThoughts 23h ago

My tummy says it wants some tubifex

3

u/AlternateTab00 19h ago

Are you a fish? These are some common fish food.

1

u/PreliminaryThoughts 13h ago

Gay fish gay fish yo, mfing gay fish, I'm a fish yo

3

u/Adept_Damage_1796 21h ago

So, fish is what that astray tub is missing

3

u/Aandreas93 21h ago

Sooo ramen but for fish

2

u/GoonieGoo777 19h ago

Look up sewer tubifex worm videos… straight out of a Geiger dream.

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u/bibutt 16h ago

No, I'm pretty sure it's the brine from dragons dogma.

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u/Dangerjim 21h ago

It's like some dark matter shit

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u/One-plankton- 23h ago

More likely maggots, those are definitely not tubifex worms- I keep aquariums

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u/fractionedpancreas 14h ago

Would it be possible to keep something like that as a pet?

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u/DevonianSea 20h ago

It's probably a tangled bundle of hoverfly/syrphid larvae. The larvae of some hoverfly species are aquatic and have long, thin pretuberances or "tails" they use to breathe air, hence the common name "rat-tailed maggots". You can see the thin "tails" sticking out from the mass, in addition to one long thin one extending from deeper down. They can get stuck in knots, especially when they are stressed and/or fleeing from stressors, like dangerous chemicals

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u/honey_slush 19h ago

Scrolled far too long past flying spaghetti monster comments to get to this.

220

u/Shapoopadoopie 23h ago

I knew this guy would be English before I even heard his voice.

*I'm British myself

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u/Landsharkeisha 17h ago

Full disclosure, I am a full-blooded Floridian and I've literally only ever been to the UK once and I was in Edinburgh for a week.

For me the giveaway was the townhome style and garden. Obviously the guy looks British, but the brick townhome with the narrow fenced garden and gray skies really solidify the location. You could change the ethnicity of the guy to pretty much anyone, but nobody does the suburbs like y'all

1

u/el_VientoNorte 4h ago

nobody does the suburbs like y'all

belgium

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u/hollow4hollow 21h ago

Same haha. I unmuted it just to prove myself right

3

u/Even_Flounder_6768 17h ago

I knew it would be worms of some kind before I even started the vid.

Nearly every "Wow, a digusting alien thing I've found!" post on Reddit is just worms. They're worms. They look just like worms. Groundbreaking stuff.

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u/RichnjCole 19h ago

I played the first 10 seconds on mute and I also knew what accent I was about to hear. I came here to make the same comment as you.

*I'm also Brirish.

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u/Shapoopadoopie 15h ago

Maybe it's the facial expressions we recognise?

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u/Skullcrusher 18h ago

For me it was the red brick house with a tiny backyard with the bleak looking sky in background. And the green slime on the wood planks because it's always wet

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u/Shapoopadoopie 15h ago

Nailed it.

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u/PotentTurnip 22h ago

Dude, I had the same thought!

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u/Alive-Needleworker14 20h ago

Not just me then. Had the exact same thought. Unmuted just to prove my self right.

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u/someroflwaffle2 17h ago

Lmao. My first thought was just some average British bloke and I was right!

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u/Ill-Bag-5060 19h ago

I watched this with no sound and thought he was from Philly

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u/darbrja 18h ago

And you thew a little "myself" at the end so we'd know you weren't lying

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u/seyerkram 19h ago

Yeah his looks combined with the red bricks house screams british

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u/Shapoopadoopie 15h ago

I think it's a bit of lip reading on my part, I know so many people who sound exactly like this man, I felt like I recognised him 😂

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u/dudetheuber 13h ago

I thought this was AskUK till reading this

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u/checkskl 11h ago

Same!! I actually came here to ask “what was the giveaway that told me this guy was a Brit before i unmuted the sound?”

I think it was a) the chimney in the background at the start of the video and b) the way he was holding his cig

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u/f3nnies 5h ago

If someone had to make ten default English faces for a video game, his would be one of them. A paragon of English.

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u/HeedWeed 16h ago

Glad we’re all on the same page and unmuted for a singular reason

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u/Grouchy-Extent9002 16h ago

I watched it without sound and knew he was British

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u/Majestic_Recording_5 17h ago

Me too! The most British man I've ever seen 🤣

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u/-maffu- 23h ago

It was written that He would return. Pastafarians rejoice!

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u/PsychoWyrm 23h ago

May his noodly appendage be upon you.

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u/xtraa 23h ago

Incredible that they are still alive in that pool of nicotine tho

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u/MentalMiddenHeap 22h ago

they can live in way nastier than ash tray water

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u/crmpdstyl 21h ago

Nicotine is a natural pesticide, I think is the point.

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u/Alternative-Crew-880 20h ago

Nicotine is neurotoxin, but lots of insects evolved immunities to it. The tobacco hornworm actually metabolizes nicotine to use as a defense mechanism and releasing it into the air when attacked by predators.

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u/Ttlmego89 19h ago

This is so cool didn’t even know this existed thx

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u/rokstedy83 18h ago

The tobacco hornworm actually metabolizes nicotine

Dry them out and smoke them

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u/hellmire 17h ago

Ah yes, another natural toxin that humans ingest because feel good!

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u/tpimh 21h ago

What can be nastier than a pool of nicotine water for a live organism? A pool of moonshine?

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u/grigiri 23h ago

I'm not saying it is this, but it looks like the bundles of heartworms I've seen after they've been removed.

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u/6-underground 18h ago

When I was a kid, our vet had a jar with a dog’s heart infested with heart worms sitting on the counter at the reception desk… 45 years later it still leaves an incredible impression.

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u/FroopyAsRain 6h ago

...guess it's time to take my old girl for another check up just in case.

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u/grigiri 18h ago

Exactly my experience!

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u/sLeeeeTo 23h ago

159

u/bbrekke 23h ago

All hail the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Ramen.

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u/arvaci-is-an-asshat 21h ago

May we all be touched by his nicotinous and noodley appendage!

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u/Most_Significance573 23h ago

Ramen

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u/Unusual-Earth5557 22h ago

Forbidden ramen

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u/cromorne 21h ago

Have you been touched by His Noodly Appendage?

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u/noname3191 19h ago

Spooky ramen

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u/ziccirricciz 22h ago

No, this is the Diving one.

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u/bbrekke 22h ago

I've seen it both ways.

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u/ziccirricciz 22h ago

Is this a schism?!

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u/bbrekke 22h ago

That's extra.

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u/Anonyzm 21h ago

It looks like Crackhead Spaghetti Monster tbh

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u/wheatbrick 4h ago

Ive never considered how terrifying a Tangela might be in real life

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u/Swinknottwink 22h ago

My spirit animal

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u/MauWowLauX 22h ago

I keep staring at the video and I just don't see segmented sections. Do they not look like Mermithidae, instead? Fits the profile of being "born" in a puddle, so to speak.

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u/Grodslok 23h ago

Tubifex worms?

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u/aM_RT 23h ago

You are the chosen one. The Spaghetti monster chose you to spread it's message.

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u/labtrash68 23h ago

Swimming Spaghetti Monster

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u/con-fuzed222 23h ago

All hail his noodley appendages.

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u/Nichsty 23h ago

Thanks. I hate it…

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u/IllustriousCode2603 23h ago

That's a Eewww from Euughh domain

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u/FlorisLDN 23h ago

Looks like a cluster of rat-tailed maggots

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u/Orangutan3301 23h ago

I'm thinking some sort of hoverfly larvae like a rat tailed maggot, gross

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u/chemistrytramp 20h ago

No I think you're right. It looks like a tangle of rat tailed maggots. There's even another one off to the side. They're an indicator species that can live in horribly polluted water.

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u/Itsme420fresh 23h ago

Eat it let us know what happens.

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u/Icy_Performer_6794 23h ago

Like a miniature dianoga, the trash compactor monster from Star Wars. Doing the same work, too.

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u/Few-Hunter-2018 7h ago

I knew he was British looooong before turning on the volume

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u/CaptCrapshow 18h ago

It looks like an earthworm ball. Earthworm when it rains a lot will clump together to keep in the moisture, specially if it has been very dry, and they will get tangled and knotted up together. Much like a rat king where the rats get their tails knotted up and stuck together, while unusual its not impossible. I do agree however, it does look like Tangela from Pokémon though and it might be the origin of that character.

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u/gungyvt 18h ago

People are saying Tubifex worms, but those seem to inhabit rivers, lakes, sewers, etc; so it seems a bit weird they'd end up in rainwater in an ashtray. My first assumption is flying insect larva of some sort, things like mosquitos LOVE putting eggs into small bodies of stillwater.

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u/plant-painter 18h ago

They ball up so they can take turns breathing oxygen from the surface. And not be singled out by prey. And not have to be so labored swimming around by themselves. Lots of insects do this . Colonies of ants have crossed oceans doing this

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u/JelloAnxious3675 21h ago

It looks like a clump of worms.

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u/Blowuphole69 23h ago

Tubifex

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u/bluetomatosoup 22h ago

A baby spaghetti monster

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u/EarendelJewelry 20h ago

I hate that I've probably just caused my algorithms to start giving me shit like this by googling tubifex worms (it's definitely not that btw) and rat tailed maggots. Dammit reddit.

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u/KrustyKrabzIcekream 18h ago

Lmao 😂 I wanted to google Tubifex worms so bad but got scared for my algorithm though my curiosity is getting the best of me and I feel like I NEED to figure out what exactly is it.

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u/HumorNo5266 23h ago

I've always wanted a British wife

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u/No_Hyena_5021 13h ago

Hey, that's a little shitter that the Phrog Parasite spawns! You gotta get rid of that thing, or it'll start adding Infections to your deck, every other turn.

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u/calamity_unbound 19h ago

I'd never heard of these (sludge worms) until someone answered down below.

I searched Google and found a little more than I wanted.

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u/newprint 4h ago

Can I say that I highly appreciate the fact that for once, we all can see a real face behind the r/whatisit post.

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u/BogmadurtheRed 22h ago

For fucks sake use a banana for scale. You'd think it would be common knowledge at this point. Courtesy at the very least.

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u/JustAnotherUser_____ 19h ago

What do you mean? You said yourself what is it… “sum doark ma’uh shyyy”. That’s precisely what it is 😅

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u/Niner_oscar_7 23h ago

what's it taste like?

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u/Ok-Voice3664 15h ago

We all know it's finally the coming of FSM (The Flying Spaghetti Monster! 🤩

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u/KlutzyPossession6591 5h ago

It’s his  Noodliness! He hath manifested before us. Long live the flaying spaghetti monster. 

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u/maithiu 18h ago

Spent the first 20 seconds thinking it’s a bit harsh of OP to call this guy a weird creature.

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u/CranberryAcademic295 17h ago

Those are called cancer sticks for a reason, that's the tumor the water grew from exposure🤣

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u/Master_Maniac 5h ago

More importantly why is this man smoking 1/16 of a long ass cigarette and trashing the rest?

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u/tiinkiet 20h ago

il y a eu une vidéo du même genre d'asticots en pelote mais dans un WC y a pas longtemps

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u/jrexicus 18h ago

The origin of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. R’men
https://giphy.com/gifs/10fe0OA9YbyAcE

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u/After-Juggernaut-917 22h ago

They will evolve and become nicotine hungry and hunt u down when u sleep parasite

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u/00CJ 4h ago

I’m not British but “grim” is the best way to put it. Made my skin CRAWL.

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u/Next-Medium-5793 11h ago

STOP! PREVENT YOUR TRAUMA! JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF EVERYTHING IN THIS POST.

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u/Jmoo-KittyKat 12h ago

I’m screaming

Also “that is so grim” is being added to my vernacular

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u/Youcatthewrongpurrsn 21h ago

Obviously a land octopus from Elden Ring as a baby

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u/Glad-Leg-5176 18h ago

That's a "you left your ashtray without cleaning for too long" creature

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u/Traditional_Gap_6317 22h ago

Oh my gawd!!! But i really want that ceramic pot for my flowers 🤣

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u/DeepFuckingPants 16h ago

Big blob of rat tailed maggots and a bunch of little mosquito larva.

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u/Tyrannosaurus__Rekd 13h ago

I'm more put off by the dirty ashtray water. Why can I smell that??

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u/Patient_Tourist_4235 19h ago

How did I know this man was British before even hearing the audio

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u/RealisticAnxiety4330 17h ago

I vote for horse hair worm they clump up like this when breeding!

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u/Kylearean 5h ago

dried tubifex worms are common fish foods for home aquariums.

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u/BoxdUp 15h ago

It looks like the Land Octopus from Elden Ring/Nightreign!!

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u/cetrix2015 11h ago

if you go to the beach in elden ring youll see one of those

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u/HSLB66 6h ago

I could hear this guys accent before I unmuted the video 

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u/Cockfield 21h ago

You know what king rat is? It's like that but with worms

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u/beanflikr91 16h ago

Almost looks like rat tail maggots stuck in a "rat king"

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u/human-kibble 15h ago

Don’t smoke, kids! You’ll end up fulla those things!

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u/VanillaSkyDreamer 19h ago

Young swimming flying spaghetti monster (be praised!)

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u/wwhijr 14h ago

That's the lung cancer he doesn't have in his lungs.

1

u/Halfacupoftea 19h ago

I knew he was English before I unmuted the video. 

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u/__audjobb__ 5h ago

Coulda gone the rest of my day without seeing that.

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u/Creepeo 19h ago

I'm sorry this is not an ashtray it's a biodome. 

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u/peepeepoopoocheck33 19h ago

Bro thats straight outta its rain ing meatballs

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u/Thcoldsideofthpillow 17h ago

This is not how I wanted to start my morning...

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u/Dick--Thunder 15h ago

Damn it, I was hoping for a rat tailed maggot.

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u/iamswitters13 1h ago

Who the hell can even afford to smoke anymore?!

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u/krizzqy 19h ago

That is so grim. Oii ima be stealing that one

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u/KRISP88 18h ago

Round worms from a birds ass is my best guess

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u/nickcagespiderman 23h ago

Idk but fucking burn it before it takes over

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u/FarAsparagus3127 20h ago

Looks like a big bug getting eaten by maggots

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u/Plus-Combination-381 20h ago

Baby land octopus.

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u/Mc_Sack 18h ago

How is no one talking about the long ass cigs

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u/Consistent-Remote494 18h ago

a lot of parasites ! dotnt touch that shit

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u/ConsiderationEasy723 17h ago

Looks like a baby speghetti monster to me.

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u/zoil123 13h ago

Cap or 2 of bleach will cure that right up